“I’ve been going out like this for a while. So far, no one has scolded me. Only once did a guy say to me: ‘What kind of Russian do we have here?’. However, I must admit that I would not go to Prague in this sweatshirt. I have three more, I’m willing to sell. There’s a lot there. I came back from China recently, I was there to teach Czech,” Křivka told MF Dnes.
The man, who is now a rock gardener and translator, also added that he supports “the demise of the state of Ukraine.” “His existence is pointless. People are running away from it, it is becoming depopulated,” says Křivka.
Křivka, who left the party in 2009 after disputes with the former chairman of the Green Party, Martin Bursík, was photographed by Lidových noviny reporter Tomáš Vlach at the beginning of April on Míru Street in Pardubice.
The photo of a man in pro-Russian clothing subsequently spread on social networks, where the police also noticed it.
“The Pardubice criminal investigators have been dealing with the case from the very beginning and are examining all its circumstances. We will provide more information as soon as possible,” Pardubice police officers said on the X network about the photo.
The “Z” symbol originally appeared on Russian military equipment sent to Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.
Over time, however, the brand became a symbol of people supporting the Russian invasion and the regime of President Vladimir Putin. It cannot be said universally that everyone who displays the mentioned symbol is automatically committing a crime, but it depends on the context and the situation.
“Regarding the use of the Z symbol, it must be emphasized that the possible criminal-legal penalty does not cover the depiction of the letter Z in general, but it is always necessary to assess the specific context and circumstances of the depiction,” the police said on their website last year.
If the symbol is used to support the invasion of Ukraine, where Russia is committing war crimes, the threat of punishment may be real, specifically it could qualify as a crime of denying, approving, questioning or justifying genocide or other crimes against humanity and peace.
There are already known cases where the police initiated criminal proceedings against persons who presented the “Z” symbol.
The police are prosecuting a person for hanging a flag with the letter Z at an event of Nymburk communists
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